“Take the path through the North Quarter.” Maren raised her eyebrows at him, and Saul nodded towards the screens. “That’s the way Suriya took, and nothing stopped her.”

“Okay then. You up for some running, Saul?”

“Hmm.”

Maren thought that meant yes, so she tucked the gun back into her belt and hooked Saul’s hand over her shoulders while Gin came up on his other side. They lifted him to his feet then started towards the doors.

“You’d be faster without me,” Saul started, but Maren gave him a quick jab in his ribs.

“Don’t even think about playing the hero. If you stay, I’m staying with you.”

He sighed but was wise enough to not protest any further.

They were only a few paces from the door when it slid open. Maren snatched for her gun and, holding Saul up with her left hand, aimed with her right—but the hallway was empty. She glanced behind herself and saw the rest of the room’s doors had opened, too.

“Suriya,” Maren muttered, scowling. “But the monsters destroyed the panel. How’d she—”

“She set it on a timer, I’ll bet,” Gin said. “Scheduled to cancel the lockdown when it was too late for us to do anything about it.”

“You can do that?”

“If you’re a little clever with it, yeah.”

“Okay.” Maren pulled the three of them through the door and set off down the hallway. “We need to go fast, then. No time to suit up. We’ll have to take temporary oxygen units.”

She turned right, as Saul had advised, taking the slightly longer path through the northern section of their station. Her heart, strained by all of the activity that day, fluttered hard against her ribs as she carried the bulk of Saul’s weight. She kept her breathing light so she could listen, but she couldn’t hear or see anything unnatural. They were near the end of the hallway that led to the airlock when Saul pulled her up with a hard tug. She looked at him, but he shook his head to indicate she should be quiet.

“What’s—” Gin started, but Saul clamped a hand over her mouth.

That was when Maren became aware of the faint shifting noise coming from just around the corner ahead of them. Saul carefully pulled the gun from Maren’s hand. Then, leaning on her to keep himself steady, he tugged a knife from his back pocket. He threw it towards the end of the hallway so that it skittered to a halt just before the corner.

Mark’s monstrous form took up most of the hallway while his limp human skin swayed from where it was suspended. He lunged towards the sound, and two of his tendrils slammed into the floor and walls, leaving large dents in their wake.

Saul’s gun cracked three times, blasting holes in the rippling black creature as its human opened its mouth to release a deep bellow.

“Go,” Saul said, urging them forward, as Mark collapsed to the ground in a mess of smoking, writhing flesh. “Quick, before the other one comes.”